How Drayson fattened up his drug firm on the taxpayer - then made £80m selling it to Americans

A Labour donor made a vast personal fortune on the back of a £20million handout of taxpayers' money, an inquiry has found.

Lord Drayson had threatened to pull his PowderJect company out of Britain unless it was given public cash.

In 2003 the vaccine manufacturer was offered the £20million to build a factory by a government-run regional development board.

Just two months later he sold the subsidised company to its U.S. rival Chiron, landing a profit for himself and his family estimated at £80million.

He is now a science minister and, following last week's reshuffle, also a defence minister attending Cabinet meetings. The affair raises disturbing questions over Labour's burgeoning quango network and the way it handles large sums of public money in deep secrecy.